Lieutenant-Colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Thomas Heron Jones, 7th Viscount Ranelagh, (9 January 1812 – 13 November 1885) was known for his involvement in the
volunteer movement
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...
to recruit amateur soldiers for the defence of Britain, and for his links to glamorous women, notably the
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
model
Annie Miller
Annie Miller (1835–1925) was an English artists' model who, among others, sat for the members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. Her on-off relationship with Holman Hunt ...
and the actress
Lillie Langtry
Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer.
Born on the isl ...
.
Heron Jones succeeded to an Irish peerage, becoming
Viscount Ranelagh
Viscount Ranelagh was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created on 25 August 1628 for Sir Roger Jones, son of Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was made Baron Jones of Navan, in the County of Meath, ...
and Baron Jones of Navan in 1820 on the death of his father.
Volunteer movement
Ranelagh was an enthusiastic supporter of the movement to create a volunteer army, which had arisen from fears of a French invasion. He created and commanded the
2nd South Middlesex Rifle Volunteers
The Kensington Regiment (Princess Louise's) is a unit of the British Army, which originated in the Volunteer Rifle Corps' movement of the 1850s. In 1908 it became a battalion of the London Regiment (1908–1938), London Regiment in the Territoria ...
in 1859, the nucleus of which was formed from members of the Ranelagh Yacht Club. Ranelagh became a ''de facto'' leader of the Volunteer movement and was introduced as such to the French emperor
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
. In 1863 Ranelagh helped to organise a show of force in Brighton at which he gave a speech defending the movement from attempts by the government to take control of it. He insisted that an independent volunteer militia was both cheaper and more effective for the country than a centrally organised force. He asserted that the English character prefers independence and distrusts "organisation", claiming that "we trust to our own pluck, that indomitable pluck that all Englishmen possess". At this period Ranelagh was calling for a volunteer "people's army", an aspiration supported by a section of the press at the time. He continued to command the Volunteers until his death in 1885.
Relationships
![Viscount Ranelagh Vanity Fair 25 June 1870](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Viscount_Ranelagh_Vanity_Fair_25_June_1870.jpg)
Ranelagh started a relationship with Annie Miller when her fiancé
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism. ...
was away in the Middle East. He was described in the letters of Hunt and his friends as a "notorious rake" because of his womanising. When Hunt learned of the relationship he broke off the engagement, leading to a meeting between Annie and Ranelagh in which he suggested that she should sue Hunt for
breach of promise
Breach of promise is a common law tort, abolished in many jurisdictions. It was also called breach of contract to marry,N.Y. Civil Rights Act article 8, §§ 80-A to 84. and the remedy awarded was known as heart balm.
From at least the Middle ...
. In the end, she married Ranelagh's cousin.
[Anne Clark Armor, ''William Holman Hunt'', Constable, p.178.]
Ranelagh was also responsible for introducing
Lillie Langtry
Emilie Charlotte, Lady de Bathe (née Le Breton, formerly Langtry; 13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry and nicknamed "The Jersey Lily", was a British socialite, stage actress and producer.
Born on the isl ...
to London high society. According to Langtry herself, "he completely changed the current of my life".
[Lillie Langtry, ''The Days I Knew'', p.35.] She became the centre of attention at a party to which he invited her, and was asked by both
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...
and
Frank Miles
George Francis Miles (22 April 1852 – 15 July 1891) was a London-based British artist who specialised in pastel portraits of society ladies, also an architect and a keen plantsman. He was artist in chief to the magazine ''Life'', and between 1 ...
to sit for a portrait.
With his partner, Ranelagh had two daughters and a son Arthur Jones who inherited his estate but being illegitimate could not inherit his father's titles. The titles of Viscount Ranelagh and Baron Jones of Navan became extinct upon his death in 1885.
See also
Jones had two prominent relatives from his maternal grandmother:
* American Revolutionary War hero and former British Army officer Major General
Richard Montgomery
Richard Montgomery (2 December 1738 – 31 December 1775) was an Irish soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and he is most famous for l ...
* Colonel
Alexander Montgomery, M.P. for County Donegal in 1768 and British Army officer
His sister Barbara married
Count von Rechberg (1806-1899), Foreign Minister of Austria, 1859–1864.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranelagh, Thomas Heron Jones, 7th Viscount
1812 births
1885 deaths
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Volunteer Force officers in Middlesex units
People associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland
Place of birth missing